Berlin, 12 August 2016 In the first six months of the year, the German capital saw 14.41 million overnight stays, an increase of 4.3 percent over the same period last year. The number of guests rose to 5.99 million (+ 3.0 percent).

The number of nights spent in Berlin by guests from abroad jumped by 4.8 percent, while guests from Germany spent 4.0 percent more nights in their capital. These were the results revealed on Wednesday by the Berlin-Brandenburg Statistical Office.

“Berlin’s magnetism remains unbroken,” says Burkhard Kieker, CEO of visitBerlin. “Tourism has shown a solid growth in the first half of the year and Berlin remains the driving force of tourism to German cities.”

In June, the number of overnight stays rose by 2.2 percent to 2.74 million, with 1.55 million guests from Germany (+ 5.7 percent) and 1.19 million guests from abroad (- 1.9 percent).

Conventions and Meetings Important Growth Driver for the Berlin Tourism Industry

Events in the first half of 2016 generated 3.6 million overnight stays (+9.0 percent over the same period last year). This represents a quarter of all hotel stays in Berlin, as shown in the latest convention statistics from the visitBerlin Berlin Convention Office.

Overall, Berlin’s role as a meeting destination continues to grow: In the first six months of this year, more than 4.88 million participants (+ 1.3 percent) attended approximately 62,800 events (+ 1.3 percent) in the German capital.

Burkhard Kieker commented further: “The current statistics show that Berlin scores with convention planners not only with our variety of modern venues and high levels of service, but also with our unique atmosphere.”

Further growth is expected for the second half of 2016, with a number of high-profile conferences coming to Berlin. These include the World Health Summit and Eurospine 2016, the annual meeting of the European Spine Society, in October, and the World Architecture Festival in November.

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